With all of the toing and froing to the Hospital this blog has been neglected of late Now that it looks as if I am stabilized no doubt I can find a little more time and energy to get more posting done One of my big problems has been that medication makes me feel like death warmed up, I couldn't stay awake and completely out of touch with reality Now that the tablet dose is being reduced with a bit of luck it will all reset itself quickly I HOPE.
In the meantime there is to be an information fair on the Strand on Easter saturday from 10 to 5,30 local organisations are invited to set up a stall to pass on infgo or raise funds for their own organisations There will be a ban on any sales of food or drink that are to be consumed as soon as sold to safeguard local businesses.So far I can tell you that there are the following organisations in attendance Force cancer Charity, friends of Yarty (ELF) Exmouth and Lympstone Hospice care, National transplant register (Organ donors) Some of the Farmers market stall holders are expected to come as well as the scouts guides etc All day kink music will be provided by Bay fm.
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Wednesday, 29 January 2014
Friday, 3 January 2014
Elizabeth hall to Premier Inn WHAT INN?
A request for information made by a local resident under the Freedom of information act through www. whrt do they know .com has come back with a funny reply which you can see via the link provided https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/elizabeth_hall_site_exmouth#incoming-331496
It is surprising to find that after all the agro EDDC have allowed Whitbread PLC. (Owners of Premier Inns) to take control of the Hall site and demolish the building without having been paid for it. strikes me as another instance of poor management and like the old swimming pool quite likely to still be hanging about for years to come. So much for the iconic development that we need on the Sea front!
What if Whitbread decide that it is too costly to build on the site because of the sand on which they will have to put their building Will EDDc build or have built a replacement hall or will the site be re advertised and sold to the highest bidder who may well or probably will be a residential developer with whom they are friends?
It is surprising to find that after all the agro EDDC have allowed Whitbread PLC. (Owners of Premier Inns) to take control of the Hall site and demolish the building without having been paid for it. strikes me as another instance of poor management and like the old swimming pool quite likely to still be hanging about for years to come. So much for the iconic development that we need on the Sea front!
What if Whitbread decide that it is too costly to build on the site because of the sand on which they will have to put their building Will EDDc build or have built a replacement hall or will the site be re advertised and sold to the highest bidder who may well or probably will be a residential developer with whom they are friends?
next Town Council meeting to consider the budget and set the precept for thew next Year.
aper to the councillors setting out three options Option1 is the only acceptable one as it propses a standstill precept although because of the increase in property numbers and values there will be rise in the amount of local (precept) tax raised.
option2 is a slightly greater precept proposal but again is not acceptable in the financial climate which exists in the town and country in general Option 3 is an outlandish proposal to lift the precept by a very large amount in order to bring the purchasing power back to where it was some time ago.
There is no supporting paperwork which shows any justification for the budget headings in the proposals which indicates a view that money is being raised for the sake of it and with a view to satisfy the idea that many councillors have ("If we raise the precept we can do more")
But what more? Surely the people must be asked what they want rather than to be told what they are going to have(get)
I made a freedom of information request to get a breakdown of the budget proposals but it was refused because the clerk said that the document doesn't exist!Apparently this is not true as is explained in the minutes of the last Council meeting because at the time that the information was requested the paper was still in draft form and having approved the budget it is now a definative document which is so I am told is available to be seen by the public!
option2 is a slightly greater precept proposal but again is not acceptable in the financial climate which exists in the town and country in general Option 3 is an outlandish proposal to lift the precept by a very large amount in order to bring the purchasing power back to where it was some time ago.
There is no supporting paperwork which shows any justification for the budget headings in the proposals which indicates a view that money is being raised for the sake of it and with a view to satisfy the idea that many councillors have ("If we raise the precept we can do more")
But what more? Surely the people must be asked what they want rather than to be told what they are going to have(get)
I made a freedom of information request to get a breakdown of the budget proposals but it was refused because the clerk said that the document doesn't exist!Apparently this is not true as is explained in the minutes of the last Council meeting because at the time that the information was requested the paper was still in draft form and having approved the budget it is now a definative document which is so I am told is available to be seen by the public!
Thursday, 19 December 2013
Tourism
Most people will have read about the offer made by Daryl Nicholas to front up an investigation on how a new Tourist information service can be implemented in the town Town councillors were at the council meeting keen to stress that they were not looking top pick up the costs of this new service although they have agreed to accept the offer to investigate and report back in April, with full costings.
Tuesday, 3 December 2013
Council spin or Bull Sh1t!
the Town council were given the first draft of next years budget for consideration at this weeks TC finance meeting The debate was mainly to decide how they viewed the historical records rather than to ,look at the projections for the next year, although it was said that to keep services at the current level an increase in the precept of 4 pence per annum would be needed. This despite a loss of the central funding that has been withdrawn. A motion put by one of the opposition members that an investigation by sub committee was not well supported by the ruling party although it was resolved to refer it to the next council meeting for a full debate despite the mayor making the point that the agenda for that meeting is already very long and the meeting may have to be extended to 11pm to complete.
Ity strikes us that the council is being run to suit the councillors rather than to conduct its business in a businesslike manner. If meetings every six weeks are not enough then they should beheld monthly After all the majority of the councillors are not actively circulating amongst the electorate and holding surgeries so an extra meeting or two will not unduly inconvenience them and if they don't like that then they should stand down, there are certainly a number of alternative independent candidates who would stand up and actually work for the Town.
Stepping back to the budget it has not been publicised very well but a historic record of the precept from the first days of the TCc reformed in 1997 to date is posted on the new TC website. Ity shows just how much the increases have been over the years.
the first year a precept of £12 raised a little over £14k and the same precept in the following year raised an extra £2k Successive years when the TC was growing and a Town Manager was employed caused an increase in precept over the next 8 yeas to fund that and the music and arts festival until the 2007 precept which grew to £21.88 allowing for functions that EDDC told the clerk they would no longer be able to fund could be taken on by the TC even though just before the elections in May of that year the dc suddenly found the cash to carry on Many think that to have been a very deliberate move to deceive the electors into believing that the LD members of the TC had put up the precept for no reason.
History has a habit of repeating itself and it is clear that the present leadership want to raise the precept again despite the fact that since they came to power the increases have been very considerable 9.92% in 2008 and 25.63% in 2010 are just two years The average over the 6 years they have been in control is a mighty 6.04% which is far above the annual cost of living increases that are published by the bank of England
Ity strikes us that the council is being run to suit the councillors rather than to conduct its business in a businesslike manner. If meetings every six weeks are not enough then they should beheld monthly After all the majority of the councillors are not actively circulating amongst the electorate and holding surgeries so an extra meeting or two will not unduly inconvenience them and if they don't like that then they should stand down, there are certainly a number of alternative independent candidates who would stand up and actually work for the Town.
Stepping back to the budget it has not been publicised very well but a historic record of the precept from the first days of the TCc reformed in 1997 to date is posted on the new TC website. Ity shows just how much the increases have been over the years.
the first year a precept of £12 raised a little over £14k and the same precept in the following year raised an extra £2k Successive years when the TC was growing and a Town Manager was employed caused an increase in precept over the next 8 yeas to fund that and the music and arts festival until the 2007 precept which grew to £21.88 allowing for functions that EDDC told the clerk they would no longer be able to fund could be taken on by the TC even though just before the elections in May of that year the dc suddenly found the cash to carry on Many think that to have been a very deliberate move to deceive the electors into believing that the LD members of the TC had put up the precept for no reason.
History has a habit of repeating itself and it is clear that the present leadership want to raise the precept again despite the fact that since they came to power the increases have been very considerable 9.92% in 2008 and 25.63% in 2010 are just two years The average over the 6 years they have been in control is a mighty 6.04% which is far above the annual cost of living increases that are published by the bank of England
How a blog can get through to a council
It has been brought to our attention that Exmouth Town clerk who is supposedly so overworked has time to read on line public blogs to read about the things which are of a concern to the people. What a pity however that he and his immediate superiors do not appear to take any notice, but then he cannot be that overworked if he has the time to go web searching. It may be that he is extra sensitive about what the public think about his periods of holiday that would look like as if he spends most of his time away from his desk. Rather that investigating the possibility of appointing a deputy would it not be more efficient if the clerk were on the job for more hours and spend less relaxing on leave? I recall that his predecessor took very little time way from the job but all of the work was completed but then he although allowed a deputy declined and so an appointment of an office manger was made.
Sunday, 17 November 2013
Selling or not selling that is the question
Once again confusion reigns because of EDDC refusal to come clean on their ambitions. The Splash or as it is now called the Queens Drive leisure area will be handed over to a partner who will be responsible for developing the attractions there. EDDC's Lisa Timberlake said in a briefing to the COLP meeting on Thursday,that the council will be seeking their partner soon and that the land will be transferred to them as either leasehold or freehold with outline planning permission, but that the partner is expected to work alongside the existing tenants to see if they can come forward with the cash and schemes to match the councils ambitions. This will certainly increase the costs that the businesses have to cover, and although the partner will be paying EDDC rent, ( but only if it is leasehold!) freehold it is lost forever. The tenant will of course have to pay extra to cover the partners profits so pushing up costs considerably.
All the time before this EDDC were saying that they would redevelop the area not letting on that as usual the land is to be sold, Who wants to guess which of the favorite developers will get the land. could it be a spin off benefit for the Rolle playing fields for the Sea front with permission to go ahead? OR else swapping to the Released Imperial ground for the EDDC backed supermarket and housing, when the Rugby club moves out?
And even more worrying will that open the flood gates for even more development along the seafront? the Maer will not be safe because EDDC will be opening up the can of worms which will eventually allow a spread of built up units and costly holiday attractions from Carlton Hill to Orcombe point An why would EDDC be concerned about that/ Simply they won't because the ruling group is based at Honiton, not Sidmouth where many think and are relatively fire proof because the tribal election system protects them from being thrown out at the next election, or does it? watch out for the next installment to follow fairly soon.
All the time before this EDDC were saying that they would redevelop the area not letting on that as usual the land is to be sold, Who wants to guess which of the favorite developers will get the land. could it be a spin off benefit for the Rolle playing fields for the Sea front with permission to go ahead? OR else swapping to the Released Imperial ground for the EDDC backed supermarket and housing, when the Rugby club moves out?
And even more worrying will that open the flood gates for even more development along the seafront? the Maer will not be safe because EDDC will be opening up the can of worms which will eventually allow a spread of built up units and costly holiday attractions from Carlton Hill to Orcombe point An why would EDDC be concerned about that/ Simply they won't because the ruling group is based at Honiton, not Sidmouth where many think and are relatively fire proof because the tribal election system protects them from being thrown out at the next election, or does it? watch out for the next installment to follow fairly soon.
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